Center for Multiple Languages and Literacies Teachers College, Columbia University & International Linguistic Association. Language rights in a neo-imperial world: English for uniting or dividing? Robert Phillipson Faculty of Languages, Communication, and Cultural Studies,

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It is in the economic and political interest of the United States to ensure that if the world is moving toward a common language, it be English; that if the world is moving toward common telecommunications, safety, and quality standards, they be American; and that if common values are being developed, they be values with which Americans are comfortable. These are not idle aspirations. English is linking the world…

The global expansion of English has been a key dimension of foreign policy since 1945.

NO. Only language rights which are so fundamental that every individual has them because that individual is a human being, so inalienable that no state is allowed to violate them, and necessaryfor individuals and groups to live a dignified life, are LHRs.

Other language rights may be enrichment-oriented (e.g. necessary for good jobs, mobility, etc). These are sometimes called instrumental language rights (by lawyers).

Nowhere does human nature appear less admirable than in the relationships which exist between peoples.

I put my trust in the theory of what the relationships between men and states ought to be according to the principle of right… a universal federal state… a permanent universal peace by means of a so-called European balance of power is a pure illusion.

Few things have done more harm than the belief on the part of individuals and groups (or tribes or states or nations or churches) that he or she or they are in sole possession of the truth… It is a terrible and dangerous arrogance to believe that you alone are right…

’through an ocean of blood to the Kingdom of Love’ (Robespierre, Hitler, Stalin, religious wars…)

Nothing has proved harder in the history of civilization than to see God, or good, or human dignity in those whose language is not mine, whose skin is a different colour, whose faith is not my faith and whose truth is not my truth… A god of your side as well as mine must be a God of justice who stands above us both, teaching us to make space for one another, to hear each other’s claims and to resolve them equitably… Only such a God would teach mankind to make peace other than by conquest and conversion, and as something nobler than practical necessity.

Jonathan Sacks, The dignity of dfference. How to avoid the clash of civilizations, 2002, 65

The contemporary dominance of English was initially due to the way Britain and the USA promoted the language. But currently it is the non-English-speaking nations which are consolidating this state of dependence (exemplified by English-medium textbooks in higher education) vis-à-vis the Anglo-American language, and as a result, their dependence on the Anglo-Saxon world. Dependence in science, then culture, then economic, then political!

It is self-imposed servitude and not the result of any objective fact that cannot be changed.

Denmark: in political debate in the daily paper Politiken, 18 September 2005:

The Radicals want to make Denmark bilingual. They suggest that English should be given the same position as Danish in public services. ”Everyone should have the right to address public authorities and receive a reply in English. This is a logical and efficient way of tackling globalisation…” says the Radical leader, Marianne Jelved.

45 member states, Australia and the USA as observers, EU Commission as participant and funder

Bologna 1999 … objectives - within the framework of our institutional competences and taking full respect of the diversity of cultures, languages, national education systems and of University autonomy - to consolidate a European Higher Education Area at the latest by 2010

”As a result of the Bologna process, 45 European countries have agreed to implement a Bachelor/Masters degree structure. The concept of the bi-lingual university is already being widely discussed in eastern Europe;

you can now do a medical degree in English in Hungary , for example.

And that’s a trend that is going to continue.”

The emergence of English as the international language of higher education has had an enormous impact, agrees Liping Zhou …

The concept of bilingual universities is NOT widely discussed (conference last autumn), and none exist (e.g. for linguistic minorities in Carpathian basin).

The medical degree in English in Hungary pre-dates the fall of the iron curtain. Target population is foreigners, mainly Third World, now broader, since the quality is good, and cheaper than in western Europe. Membership of the EU may change all this.

internationalisation does not need to entail learning or operating in a foreign language, i.e. English alone is enough,

privatisation and the law of the market are desirable, i.e. higher education should no longer be seen as a common good,

English can be detached from its cultural origins and studied merely as a tool, i.e. the language is promoted as though it is culturally neutral and detached from the globalising, internationalising forces that impel the language forward,

alternative views are based on ‘worn and tired assumptions’ that contribute to ‘atrophy, irrelevance and stagnation’. Us lot?

“The citizens of the world have positioned English language as a common bond not just for Anglo nations, but for the entire world, so allow English to be the language in which we can cultivate global literacy.”

reciprocity in collaborative ventures involving a US sending university and a European receiving university is “to strive for academic excellence as defined by the sending institution.”

Cuckoos are parasitical, their fledglings the sole survivors in the nests they occupy. But are they environmentally sustainable?

University autonomy is effectively the norm in Finland (a country with an exceptionally successful economy and school system), even if largely funded by the state, whereas in England it is the privilege of elite universities, because of the coercive evaluation procedures, designed to rank goodies and baddies, and reward them accordingly, rather than seeing evaluation as an ongoing process that can strengthen institutional planning, mission and quality.

The ‘international quality’ that all universities are supposed to strive for is not a gold standard but one that can be reached by many routes, and that coercive policies counteract.

non-English students have difficulty in getting British students to recognize that their ways of being and perceiving are equally relevant: UK students ‘always feel that they are on the right side in terms of opinion, and in the way of thinking’, cited by Hilary Footitt in the Newsletter of the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, University of Southampton, 8, February 2005, <www.llas.ac.uk>.

The study of foreign languages in higher education in UK needs strengthening so as to ensure that ‘internationalisation’ is not merely seen as ‘cultural colonising’.

(Linguistic) capital accumulation by dispossession, (Harvey, The new imperialism, 2005, chapter 4). As in the commercial world in its global pursuit of markets and profit, some combination of internal motivation and external pressure contributes to this trend.

There are 127 species of cuckoo worldwide, of which 42 in Europe. This matches pretty well with Englishes worldwide, and in Europe – except that new species of English are evolving rapidly. We need to learn to live with them, and promote biological and linguistic diversity.

All language communities have the right to preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage, Dalai Lama

The distinction between NECESSARY and ENRICHMENT-ORIENTED rights is a sociological not legal distinction(TSK)Language rights are of concern to- national and international law- political science- multilingual education- sociolinguistics, BUTthis is unusual in the social scienceswhereas in the political world (e.g. Council of Europe, OSCE, EU membership criteria) minority language rights figure prominently